High Score
by Half-Finished Fics
Summary: Tom has created a new holoprogram, of which the crew has become quite fond. but when his high score is beaten, he challenges the Doctor saying he can take it back! little do they know, that this little bet will turn out to be a shipwide competition
1. Chapter 1

**baahahahaha, sorry if this seems kind of random or stupid. it's based on my own video game rivalry with my dad (we too, play Galaga). not quite sure how this is gonna end, but it will probably be kind of short. and hopefully funny.  
><strong>**Enjoy ;)****  
>-"Irene"<strong>

**p.s. yes, contrary to evidence i know how to use the return button. i forgot to spell-check before uploading this, so i thought it was easier just to copy and paste it instead of uploading the whole thing again. i work in single space lines, and didnt think of switching to double space.  
><strong>

High Score.

The small fighter ship sat totally alone in a region of empty space.

The Pilot's fingers clenched the controls, knowing what was about to happen next.

Out of seemingly nowhere, enemy aliens flew in mesmerizing formations from either side of the viewscreen, collecting into one giant force directly in front of him.

He really wished the ship could shoot more than one shot at a time, but still, he managed to pick off a fair few of the creatures before too many could gang up on him.

They sat there, as if calculating, pulsing in their giant block formation, while the pilot fired shot after shot after shot.

Then, two, three, four, swooped on him at once with incredible speed. With expert skill, he initiated evasive maneuvers, dodging their every shot and dive-bombing ship. If just one of those things hit him…

Before he knew what had happened, once of them had him in a tractor beam, his ship spinning out of control as he fired shots in every direction, praying he had hit at least one enemy ship.

He didn't, and just as his captor had him in its clutches, he switched over to another ship hidden nearby, of the same configuration as the first.

It raced onto the scene, firing at the ships protecting his captured ship.

The ship with the tractor beam swooped at him, he had to time this perfectly, so as not to destroy his ship, and also hit the other ship not once, but twice.

One hit, the enemy turned from green to blue, rendering it vulnerable. He waited until the ship was nearly on top of him, his hand on the fire button.  
>BOOM!<p>

With the enemy ship blown into pieces, his other ship spun madly in empty space, the helm automatically configured itself to control both ships at once, as the two vessels locked together, side-by-side, becoming a near unstoppable super-ship.

"Hey Tom, this a new program?"

The pilot turned.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

GAME OVER.

"AaAaAaAgGgGgGgGhHhHhHhH!" Tom Paris stood defeated in front of the game console, shaking his fist at the screen.

"Should I leave?" asked Harry Kim, turning slightly and indicating his thumb to the door.

"Nah, it's fine. But next time, knock." said Tom, leaning over the old-style arcade game. "Computer, gimme another stack of quarters."

"So what is this supposed to be, anyway?" asked Harry, walking over to Tom.

"An old video game arcade. Here." He pushed the pile of old Earth coins into his friend's hand, "aw, I was SO close this time." he lamented as he looked at the screen.

"Close to what?"

"Beating my high score." Said Tom as he punched in his initials.

Harry peeked over his shoulder at the screen, which read:

TOP 5 SCORES  
>1 TEP 54,010<br>2 TEP 53,674  
>3 TEP 50,720<br>4 TEP 50,670  
>5 TEP 49,870<p>

"Impressive." Said Harry.

"Not really, I haven't gotten good at it yet, I've only been able to get in here twice, what with piloting a starship and being stuck with double shifts in sickbay. And Doc's REAL understanding about my leaving before my shift is over."

Harry looked around at all the old machines, "have you had time to play all of these?"

"Once, at least. These are all the old classics, there's Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Pole Position, Galaga –which was what I was just playing-, Space Invaders, uhhhhhhhhh, something called Dig Dug, Asteroids, Pong, Tempest, there's even a pinball machine in here somewhere."

"Neat, could I try one?" asked Harry.

"Sure. Here, pick a game, put one of those coins in that slot –no, the other slot-, press that button and…"

"Doctor to Lieutenant Paris."

Tom growled angrily, tapped his comm. Badge and responded, "yeah?"

"Why are you not in sickbay?"

"I was working on a…project. I'm on my way." Tom slouched out of the door, and Harry gave his friend a sadistic smirk as the opening music of Pole Position began to play, and turned his attention to the game.

One painfully long hour later, Tom sat in the mess hall picking at some mystery-meat of Neelix's creation, while the happy Talaxian himself leaned over the table, waiting for Tom's opinion on the food.

"Interesting texture." Said Tom, fighting a losing battle to swallow.

"Actually, I'm not here to talk about the food." Said Neelix, "I wanted to tell you I LOVE your new holoprogram."

"YOU PLAYED MY PROGRAM?" yelped Tom, spraying the mostly chewed food in a wide beam. Nobody knew about that program. He had meant to keep it to himself.

"Of course! It's pretty popular, just about everyone's tried it."

Tom stood up faster than if he had sat on a tack, and bolted out of the mess hall.

He stopped in front of Holodeck 2, and said, "computer, activate program Paris Arcade."

"PROGRAM IS ALREADY RUNNING."

He stepped inside the Holodeck, wide eyes sweeping the scene.

There were probably ten crewmembers inside the program, plus some period specific others Tom had programmed in for the sake of accuracy.

He ran over to the Galaga game, and simply stared as the high score screen popped up.

1 EMH 65,220  
>2 KEJ 59,340<br>3 N.W 57,750  
>4 NLX 56,650<br>5 H.K 55,70

He turned, saw Harry over at the Pac-Man game, stepped over to him and asked, "What happened?"

Pewewewewewwakwak.

GAME OVER.

"AaAaAaAgGgGgGgGhHhHhHhH!" yelled Harry, shaking his fist at the screen.

"I see you're getting the hang of this pretty quickly." Said Tom.

"Yeah, I've been playing the whole time." Harry's eyes remained glued to the screen.

"Then how did everyone learn about this program? It was supposed to a be secret."

Harry shrugged, "the Doc asked me what the 'project' was you were working on, I told him it was secret. Then he used the ship's locator device and came here himself. After that, well, it's a small ship."

"It's been an HOUR, Harry."

"REALLY small ship."

They heard a familiar, yet slightly maniacal laugh from the other side of the room, "Captain Janeway?" asked Tom.

"She got here about fifteen minutes ago." Eyes never leaving the screen.

Tom walked around the row of games and saw the Captain in deep concentration in front of Donkey Kong, "yessss. Yessssss… Come one, jump… No no no…" Janeway kept up a steady stream of muttering to the game, coaxing it to allow her to finish.

Tom cleared his throat, "Captain?"

"AaAaAaAgGgGgGgGhHhHhHhH! I WILL CUT OUT YOUR HEART AND HAVE IT FOR BREAKFAST, POOKAH P'TACH!" Tom and Janeway both turned to see B'Elanna shaking her fist at Dig Dug.

Janeway raised her eyebrows, then turned back to her game just in time to see Mario get killed by a barrel. "Ohhhhhh…" she hissed as she thumped the game.

Then turned around to look at Tom, "yes lieutenant?"

"Oh nothing really, I was just wondering what you were doing here."

"Just trying out the new holoprogram I've heard so much about, why?" she asked, hands on hips.

"Like I said, no reason. Who told you about it?"

Janeway gave a short bark of a laugh, "it was the only thing anyone could talk about, it was Tetris this, Asteroids that, it was my obligation as a Captain to keep up-to-date with my crew." She said with a sort of sweeping hand gesture, which put the obscure image in Tom's mind of the Captain with a cigarette on one of those long sticks.

Tom shrugged, "so, then, what do you think?"

Janeway put her hand on Tom's shoulder, "outstanding." She said, smiling, "now, I think I have a date with Mario. Computer, another quarter."

"AaAaAaAgGgGgGgGhHhHhHhH!" came another cry from across the room, Tom turned around, and to his surprise, saw their hair-challenged holographic doctor shaking his fist at Tetris.

"What are you doing here?" asked Tom.

"I'm here as a doctor. This program has strangely addictive qualities for most of the humanoid crew, I'm studying why, and whether or not it's dangerous."

"I see, so you're testing the games yourself?"

"Yes, I am the ideal candidate, considering I am immune to its effects." Said the Doctor, eyes still glued to the screen as he pushed in another quarter.

"Say, have you played Galaga at all?"

"Yes. I beat your high score. You did see my initials up there, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I think so."

The Doctor nodded, and continued playing his game. Tom then leaned in towards him, "how would you feel if I beat that score?" he asked.

The Doctor finally diverted his attention away from the screen. "That's ridiculous, considering all the awful scores that were under your initials when I first tested this program."

"Wanna bet?"  
>The Doctor turned his head, "usual wager?" he asked, the 'usual wager' was that if he won, Tom served double shifts in sickbay for the next month, but if Tom won, the young helmsman would have no shifts in sickbay for a month (except in emergencies).<p>

"I accept." Said Tom, confidently.


	2. Chapter 2

**hey guys! i know, shouldve update sooner (a LOT sooner), but i just needed to buckle down and write. not much i can think of to say, except read, enjoy, consider, and review!  
>-"Irene"<strong>  
><strong>p.s. tell me if you get the Hitchhikers reference!<strong>

He had traded replicator rations, holodeck reservations, work hours, he had stressed to Captain Janeway how extremely important this was, he had done everything in his power to get that nice, solid, twenty-four hour block of time. Which was all the time he had to beat the Doctor's high score.

His eyes hurt, his feet hurt, he was hungry, and he was exhausted. But none of that compared to the thought of letting that smug hologram win.

As his ship blew up for about the hundredth time, he closed his eyes and asked, "Computer, how long?"

"PLEASE RESTATE QUESTION."

"How long do I have left on timer Paris High Score?"

"THREE HOURS."

65220.

65220.

The only thing that was in he allowed to occupy his thoughts, the only thing he could think of, the high score he HAD to beat. Of course, the look of shock on the Doctor's face would be worth dwelling on too.

He chugged the cup of coffee Neelix had brought in earlier. For once he was grateful for the self-appointed Morale Officer, he wouldn't have been able to play video games for twenty-one straight hours without the caffeine the Talaxian kept bringing in.

He pushed another quarter in, and gripped the controls.

Tom had lost track of the time, he allowed his eyes to flick upwards at his score, and his heart stopped.

65500.

With a lifting feeling of sheer glee, he played on, and didn't even care when his ship got destroyed on the last life.

He got the score!

He carefully entered his initials, making sure they were entered correctly. He didn't believe it. He had done it. He settled his gaze happily on the scoreboard, and then froze in horror at what he saw.

_1 7o9 98,430_

_2 TEP 69,560_

_3 EMH 65,220_

_4 TEP 60,920_

_5 KEJ 59,340_

He didn't need to ask the computer where she was, he knew where she would be, but he asked anyway, just to make sure, then ran to the Astrometrics Lab.

Panting as he trotted inside, the automatic doors closed with a whoosh behind him.

He stood, startled for a moment, almost not recognizing the ex-Borg with her new science officer's uniform. He cleared his throat, "Seven?"

She turned, "Lieutenant?"

"Were you in my holoprogram earlier?"

"Specify?"

"The arcade?"

"I was trying to pursue my quest for humanity."

Tom stared for a moment, blinked, then said, "with video games?"

Seven turned her head to the side, inhaled and exhaled a deep breath, "the arcade itself was a social scenario."

"Ah. But, did you play any of the games?"

"Yes. It was an inefficient waste of time."

"A waste of time?" said Tom, close to being offended.

"Correct. Although from what I have heard from the Doctor, you have wasted even more time than I have."

"The Doctor? Does he know you took my score?"

"It was irrelevant data. I did not mention it to him."

"Irrelevant data?" squawked Tom.

"Yes. Do you make it a habit to restate what others have already said?"

That managed to shut him up.

"I understand you have made a bet with the Doctor?" asked Seven.

Tom nodded.

"Was the bet that you would beat the high score, or his score?"

"I- I don't know."

"The exact terms were not made clear?"

"I…" Tom paused, his eyes widening, "no…" he gleefully turned to run out the door, stopped just outside Astrometrics and called out to the cyborg, "thanks, Seven, you're a lifesaver!"

Seven on Nine simply raised an eyebrow, then turned back to her console.

Tom ran into sickbay, but the Doctor was nowhere to be seen. "Computer, activate EMH." He called.

"EMERGENCY MEDICAL HOLOGRAM IS ALREADY ACTIVE." Said the computer in it's usual, cool, official tone.

"Huh?" Tom frowned. "Computer, locate the Doctor."

"THE DOCTOR IS IN THE MESS HALL."

Tom found this to be rather strange, considering that since the Doctor was a hologram, he didn't, no, he COULDN'T eat. But then again, he might just be there for some social reason. Or, more likely, he was there for medical reasons, Neelix had most likely poisoned someone. It was bound to happen sometime.

But as he stepped into the Mess Hall, it seemed there was no medical emergency. Neelix hadn't poisoned anyone. Yet.

And there was no sign of the Doctor.

"Here, why don't you try this?" he heard Neelix's voice from the kitchen.

There was also a disappointed sigh, and then Tom recognized the voice of the Doctor. "Almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea."

Tom stepped into the kitchen, and gagged at the scent of what was probably the strongest batch of Neelix's Leola Root stew that he had ever encountered.

The Doctor stood near the stove, his mobile emitter pinned to his upper left arm, as usual, and his hands were cupped around a deep bowl of Neelix's vile concoction. The Talaxian stood over his shoulder, leaning forwards anxiously with his hands folded.

"What are you two doing?" asked Tom.

The Doctor looked up at him and replied, "I've been trying to add some new taste subroutines to my program."  
>Tom eyed the soup as if it might leap out and attack him at any moment, "how's it going?"<p>

The Doctor shrugged, "not bad I suppose, I can taste, if that's what you're asking. But everything ends up tasting exactly the same…" apparently not bothering with spoons, he lifted the bowl to his lips, tipped it upwards and took a very large gulp. "Almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea." He said with lonely disappointment into the bowl.

He suddenly came to his senses, his head snapped up and his eyes fixed on Tom. "The score?"

"Well, see, that's the thing…" began Tom.

The Doctor smirked, "it isn't your fault, really, as a computer program my hand eye coordination is…"

"Oh I beat YOUR score, alright." Said Tom.

The Doctor faltered, "what? Is this some kind of a trick?"

"No trick. Seven of Nine beat your score as well, and mine."  
>The Doctor simple stared, frozen with a shocked expression (literally, his movement subroutines seemed to have locked up) he blinked as an idea seemed to come into his eyes. "But you didn't get the High Score, did you?"<p>

Now it was Tom's turn to give an evil grin, "but we never actually AGREED whether it was YOUR score, or the HIGHEST score, did we?"

"Yes, but that's not the point!"

"Oh, I think it is, Doctor, it is very much the point."

The Doctor opened his mouth to retaliate, but then Neelix barged himself in-between the two of them, and into the conversation. "You know, since a do-over seems unavoidable, why don't we make it a competition open to all of the crewmembers?"

Tom began to say something as Captain Janeway walked in. "Neelix, I want REAL coffee this time."

Neelix looked surprised, "but that was coffee!"

"It was your coffee substitute," she raised a hand, "don't say a word, I've drank the stuff long enough to be a connoisseur, and I can tell if it's not coffee."

"But it tastes so much better than coffee."

"No, Neelix. It tastes almost, but not quite, entirely unlike coffee. Please, don't argue with me when I'm short on caffeine." The captain put her head in her hands.

"Yes captain." Neelix scuttled around for a moment, and came back with a steaming mug.

Janeway gave a contented sigh after a long drink, setting the mug down, she turned the trio. "So what's this I hear about a competition?"

Both the Doctor and Tom started to talk at the same time, but were cut off by Neelix. "These two have been duking it out for the high score in Tom's new program, so I was thinking, why not organize a competition to include the rest of the crew?"

Janeway smiled, "that's not such a bad idea, we haven't had much excitement recently, no planets, no attacks. I'll mention it to Chakotay." She took her coffee and left.

The EMH and pilot glared at Neelix, who seemed to take no notice. "I'll start organizing!" he said, clapping his hands and rubbing them together.


End file.
